We are starting this journal for our new little
eastern box turtle friend,
Beilow. Pronounced - Below. Yes we got the name from Borat's brother in the movie, heh. Anyhow. We came across Beilow a few days ago. The 5th of July. Thursday. We were driving along and still don't know how, at the same time, we saw him in the middle of the road trying to go across. I am a turtle rescuer, which means i freak out when i see them trying to cross the road and i immediately go back to put them to the other side. This time was different. He was so small.
The shot above is beilow in the car on my blue pillow, before we got him home for the first time. Being a photographer, of course i have my camera with me all the time :P Turtles are known for leaving their young. Obviously though, they do survive in the wild, otherwise he wouldn't be alive. But, we just couldn't let him go. They are also known for being very active after a rain, which explains why he was out and about. We brought him home, set him up with a nice tank. And have been feeding him some crickets, earth worms, oranges, cantelope, and tomatoes. He loves the worms. He also loves his little log that we got for him at the pet store.
This is a black and white shot of John holding Beilow. Kinda gives you a better idea of how small he is. I'm guessing just a few weeks or maybe even days old.
I have always wanted a turtle, but was kind of scared of how to take care of them. It's not that hard and besides, he is as precious as can be :)
Here is Beilow from the bottom.
Today he got his first bath. It's good to give them a bath every once in a while. Just put them in a little tub or container with a little clean water, to get all that grass and what not off of them and whatever it is that may be stuck up in his shell. This was the first time we got to see him swim too.He used to be kind of confused with glass and plastic walls lol. Wanted to climb over things all the time but now he seems pretty used to them.
This is what he should look like when he is an adult. Just a random box turtle image from google. Beilow may live to be 100 years or older. We are going to get a small scale and measuring tape to start weighing him and keeping track of how fast he grows. So stay tuned for more turtle blog!
-amanda, john, & beilow
